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What Do You Think About Spinal Anesthesia?

Hello,

I think that the best and the easiest way of giving a birth is doing a spinal anesthesia, but I have heard that it involves some risks for mum and some people say that they suffer from backaches whole life afterwards. Has anyone done a spinal anesthesia to give a delivery? or what you heard about its outcomes?

Spinal Anesthesia definitely has risks. Some are minor, others are major. I have a friend who had the most horrible headaches for 3 days which were caused by an epidural. They were called epidural headaches. I felt so bad for her, because she had given birth to twins and I'm sure it was quite difficult to care for her new babies (feeding them every 2 hours, day and night), caring for her other child and husband, and having these awful head aches.

Anytime you you start intervening in the natural birth process, it increases your odds of having to have another intervention... and another... and another. Though the idea of having an epidural may seem like it will make your birth pain free and easy, it's important to remember that you are not guaranteed that outcome. As you say, some have even suffered from back pain and here's a video showing that one woman experienced life long paralysis after receiving an epidural.

Ultimately, your main concern is to be the welfare of you and your baby, and it can be helpful to know that women have been giving birth for more than 2,000 years, without the use of spinal anesthesia.

I found that labouring in the water acted, to some degree, like a natural epidural, and I will say that the births I had in the water were the easiest and fastest of all of my births. I loved labouring in the water, but I got out and gave birth to my first three babies outside of the water. I chose to have water births with my last 2 babies, and if I were to do it all over again, I'd have had the first 3 babies in the water too. SO worth it! No tearing or ripping with the water births because the warm water helped to relax those tissues.

I definitely consider water birth as the best and easiest way to give a birth. After spinal anesthesia my friend has backaches. I think water birth is safer for me and my baby. thanks for interesting and detailed answer.

Like Kate I agree that a natural birth is best for mum and baby. By far the majority of women will be able to have a natural birth, medically speaking. Having an epidural makes it more likely that you will have an assisted delivery (by forceps or ventouse) and so makes it more likely that you will have an epistemology (cut to the perineum by a midwife or doctor). There is also a higher risk of having an emergency c-section if you have had an epidural.

I am not against epidurals completely. In some cases I think they have their place and you can still have a positive birth having had one, for sure. However, I do think they should only be used in the minority of cases.

For around 5% of women an epidural will not work (to completely numb the lower body from feeling and pain) and can leave isolated parts of the body still 'feeling'.

A water pool is a wonderful place to labour in. It provides a 'personal space' where you can 'go within yourself' and breathe through the surges (this is hypnobirthing speak for contractions) without interacting with the outside world. The warm water can also act as a natural pain killer. It helps women to relax by its association with previous experiences in a relaxing warm bath.

One point to note is that it is best not to get into a birthing pool until you are in active labour (around 5cm dilated, or having regular intense surges if you choose not to have an internal examination). Getting into warm water in labour before this point (i.e. in early labour) can slow down your surges.